Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Multi-Hit Game for Braylon Bishop in FCL Loss

A big game at the plate from Braylon Bishop was not enough for the FCL Pirates in a 1-run loss on Monday afternoon

Monday night the Pittsburgh Pirates start a four-game series at PNC Park against the Atlanta Braves. Prior to this, the organization's Florida Complex League squads did battle on Monday afternoon. Monday afternoon's contest saw the FCL Braves defeat the FCL Pirates 5-4, dropping the Pirates to 28-16 on the season.

6th and 7th inning rallies not enough offense... costly out on the bases

Entering the 6th inning the FCL Pirates trailed 5-0. Braylon Bishop tripled to start the bottom of the 6th inning. After Jeral Toledo walked and Javier Rivas was hit by a pitch, Ewry Espinal hit a 2-run double to cut the deficit to 5-2.

On the Espinal double, however, Rivas was thrown out attempting to go to third base. This proved costly as Jauri Custodio followed Espinal's double with his 4th triple of the season to cut the deficit to 5-3. However, had Rivas not been thrown out it would have made the score 5-4 with the tying run on third base and just one out. Esmerlyn Valdez flew out following the triple, a fly out that could have been a game-tying sacrifice fly.

In the bottom of the 7th inning the Pirates struck again. Bishop drew a two-out walk, he would finish the game 2-for-3 with his triple and a walk. Bishop then scored on a Kelvin Diaz double. After Toledo walked, Rivas struck out to end the inning with the score 5-4 Braves.

Outside of a two-out Bishop single in the 9th inning, the Pirates did not have another base runner the rest of the game.